We had such a good time again last night — it was totally worth the day of cleaning and fussing to get ready. You know how life can send some curve balls though? Last night it was that about half our planned group didn’t make it. Two got pulled away to out of town relatives who were visiting and two got pulled away to a sick kid. So that left six of us — and a bonus kid — and we still managed, somehow, to make merry. : )

The first course of our holiday progressive was appetizers at our place. On the good news side of things, I felt like I got our place cleaned up with finishing touches pretty good. You turned the lights down low, plugged in all the trees and wa-la! instant festive party location!

I also had figured out some nice cocktails. I did a simple syrup of rosemary and lemon during the day and let it cool. Then I dipped rosemary sprigs in it and sprinkled them with Truvia sugar. Once they dried they looked like pretty little snowcovered Christmas tree branches. My cocktails then were Lemon/Rosemary Sugardusters which was the simple syrup with champagne and the little sprigs hanging off the rim of the champagne glasses. Very festive.

My appetizers were an assortment of crackers and cheeses and hot and cold. All pretty decent but not exceptional. The most fun thing about our first course was that we all sat at the table and made mini “gingerbread” houses out of kits I had ordered ahead. It was fun! Casual, creative, silly and Christmasy. And they all came out really good too.

From there we headed to Rick and Tamy’s (with their daughter Breana along as a bonus — who we really enjoy) where we had yummy salads of orange slices, avocado slices and sliced almonds. Their house was beautiful! Tamy has been a florist in her past and she had to have been exceptional at it because her floral work now is always breathtaking. Their tree has been done all in birds and feathers and nests. And she has simple, but stunning, flower and branch decorations in key places around their spotless and beautiful home. Plus, Rick recently finished an incredible Native American style wood carving that they have placed high on one wall in the dining room. I spaced out and didn’t get photos of the floral decorations or the wood carving but they are works of art to be proud of. Anyways, for our salad course, we all sat at their dining room table in headbands and enjoyed good food and good company.

We lost Breana after that course (she works at Starbucks and had to be at work at 4 am!) but we gained another kid at the next stop. At Jeff’s, he had aranged for his son, Matt, to play piano for us through dinner. Is that the best or what! Matt, who is a junior at SPU, is charming, handsome and talented and we got the good luck of getting to spend a little time with him. And what a dinner Jeff and Tina had for us! Yowzaa. We had beef tenderloin with twice baked potatoes, carrots and brocolini. It was a perfect holiday party meal done perfectly.

And lest you think we had to miss out on dessert because our dessert course got sick, well, fear not! Rick and Tamy brought along brownies and ice cream and we managed to have room for that as well!

Today, we’ve had a quieter day. I’ve spent a little bit of time cleaning up and a bunch of time wrapping stocking stuffers. Glen went off shopping. : ) I even snuck in a nap this afternoon and I’m trying hard not to think about going to the dentist in the morning. Somehow the dentist this close to Christmas just seems wrong! (Of course, I would be hard pressed to suggest any day in the year that the dentist seems right.) Smile big!